COMPETITION
2004 Christmas 5-Days Blair Trewin
T
HE 2004 Christmas 5-Days was based in Armidale, NSW. With its location, further north than usual, it attracted a large number of Queenslanders (some of whom were caught unawares by the 1-degree third morning), as well as others wanting to try a wider range of Armidale terrain than most non-locals have previously experienced. The 5-Days is also usually a good place to find people visiting from Europe, old hands who aren’t sighted very often these days, and young juniors having their first shot at running up a substantial number of courses, and 2004 was no exception. The most impressive performance of the week was by David Brickhill-Jones, back from Europe for a short time, who won all five days in Men A in a decent field – he even found time on day 3 to rescue a kangaroo stuck in a fence. In a cosmopolitan field – overseas competitors filled five of the top ten places – his nearest rivals were Eric Morris and Mårten Bostrom. Bostrom, a sprint specialist from Finland with a reputation as one of the fastest runners in world orienteering, looked to have the edge for most of the week, but had a bad day on day 5 to let Morris through for second. Julian Dent, another who might have challenged for second, mispunched on the last day. Women A, in contrast, was a small field dominated by Queenslanders, most missed at least one day (the Queensland Cyclones organized two of the five days), and the five days had five different winners. Julia Davies was the most consistent to finish ahead of Wendy Read and Jasmine Neve, although Anna Sheldon, who only ran three days, would have gone close had she posted a fourth score.
Brickhill-Jones was the only person to win all five days. Jenny Bourne (Women C) went closest, her one defeat coming at the hands of daughter Julie on day 3. At the other end of the closeness scale, Andrew Campbell, making one of his occasional forays south from Cairns, managed to take out Men D by 4 points (or about 15 seconds) from Dave Lotty. Mike Burton edged out Lance Read and Mark Nemeth in Men B in probably his best result since he became perhaps the most unexpected winner of an Australian elite title (short distance) in 1993, while Kurt Neumann, still eligible for M12, took on the hard navigation of Men E and held off a tough challenge from Frank Anderson. Apart from the results, the event will be best remembered for the route-choice decision of the week - across or around the gorge leg on most of the long courses on day 3 at Blue Hole. Most of those who took on the boulder-strewn gorge lived to regret it. The fine granite terrain of Banalasta, seen by some at the 2003 NSW Championships, was also very well-received.
Top End’s Kelly Bertei at the Xmas 5-days.
Ian Hassell wins 2004 Silva Orienteer of the Year Ian Hassell (IK.N) has won the Silva Orienteer of the Year. In a remarkably consistent career Ian has won or shared this title 9 times in the last 18 years. Continuing this year, Ian won the Australian and Easter 3-day Championships and recorded 2 firsts and 3 seconds in State Championships. Well done Ian! The Silva OY competition is based on points for participating and placing in the Australian Championships, the Easter 3-days, and all State Championships (Elite and A classes in M/W16 and above). 2004 Silva Orienteer of the Year 1 2 3 = 5 = = 8 = 10 = 12 = =
Ian Hassall IK.N 33 Kevin Paine BS.A 31 Hugh Moore RR.A 25 Judith Hay BN.N 25 Conrad Elson AL.T 24 Simon Uppill OH.S 24 Clive Pope UG.Q 24 Heather Harding BS.A 23 Dorothy Adrian NE.V 23 Nick Andrewartha AL.T 21 Sue Mount AL.T 21 Julia Davies UG.Q 20 Sue Neve MF.V 20 Maureen Ogilvie UR.N 20
Have you already registered for
O-zine?
O-zine is an international on-line/e-mail orienteering magazine published 4-6 times a year.
You can now receive an e-mail notification whenever a new issue of O-zine is released. To register, just fill in the form at http://www.orienteering.org/headline.htm and press the 'Subscribe' button. Enjoy reading your O-zine!
International Orienteering Federation Radiokatu 20, FIN-00093 SLU, FINLAND
www.orienteering.org
MARCH 2005 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 15
